Roll Call Flashback: Which Democrats Voted to Entrench the Embargo on Cuba? (1996)

On March 12, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the so-called Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, more commonly known as the Helms-Burton Act (after its original sponsors Senator Jesse Helms and Representative Dan Burton).

The Helms-Burton Act was designed to further entrench the embargo on Cuba into US foreign policy.
Here are some of its provisions:

•    International Sanctions against the Cuban Government. Economic embargo, any non-U.S. company that deals economically with Cuba can be subjected to legal action and that company's leadership can be barred from entry into the United States. Sanctions may be applied to non-U.S. companies trading with Cuba.

•    United States opposition against Cuban membership in International Financial Institutions.

•    Exclusion of certain aliens from the United States, primarily senior officials or major stock holders, and their families, of companies that do business in Cuba on property expropriated from American citizens. To date, executives from Italy, Mexico, Canada, Israel, and the United Kingdom have been barred.

•    Provides power to the Legislative Branch to override an Executive Branch cancellation of the embargo.

•    Prohibits recognition of a transitional government in Cuba that includes Fidel or Raúl Castro.

•    Prohibits recognition of a Cuban government that has not provided compensation for U.S. certified claims against confiscated property, defined as non-residential property with an excess of $50,000 value in 1959.

The conference report for the Helms-Burton Act passed the Senate on March 5, 1996, by a vote of 74 to 22.  47 Republicans and 27 Democrats supported it. 18 Democrats and 4 Republicans opposed it. Who of these senators were still in the 113th Congress?

12 of the senators who voted YES (7R, 5D)

Richard Shelby (R-AL)
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Dan Coats (R-IN)
Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
Thad Cochran (R-MS)
Harry Reid (D-NV)
Jim Inhofe (R-OK)
Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)
5 of the senators who voted NO (5D):
Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Carl Levin (D-MI)
Pat Leahy (D-VT)
Patty Murray (D-WA)

Secretary of State John Kerry was a NO vote (although he had voted YES on the original Senate version of the bill). VP Joe Biden was a YES vote. Outgoing governor Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island was a NO vote.

The final vote in the House was 336 to 86.

230 Republicans and 106 Democrats voted for it. 80 Democrats, 5 Republicans, and 1 Independent voted against it.

Who was there in the 113th Congress that just finished?

36 House Republicans who voted YES:

Spencer Bachus (AL-06)
Don Young (AK)
Matt Salmon (AZ-05)
Buck McKeon (CA-25)
Ed Royce (CA-39)
Ken Calvert (CA-42)
Dana Rohrabacher (CA-48)
Duncan Hunter (CA-50)
John Mica (FL-07)
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL-27)
Jack Kingston (GA-01)
Tom Latham (IA-04)
Ed Whitfield (KY-01)
Hal Rogers (KY-05)
Dave Camp (MI-04)
Fred Upton (MI-06)
Walter Jones (NC-03)
Howard Coble (NC-06)
Frank LoBiondo (NJ-02)
Chris Smith (NJ-04)
Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ-11)
Pete King (NY-02)
Steve Chabot (OH-01)
John Boehner (OH-08)
Mark Sanford (SC-01)
John Duncan (TN-02)
Sam Johnson (TX-03)
Ralph Hall (TX-04)
Joe Barton (TX-06)
Mac Thornberry (TX-13)
Steve Stockman (TX-36)
Bob Goodlatte (VA-06)
Frank Wolf (VA-10)
Doc Hastings (WA-04)
Jim Sensenbrenner (WI-05)
Tom Petri (WI-06)

22 House Democrats who voted YES:

Corrine Brown (FL-05)
Alcee Hastings (FL-20)
Pete Deutsch (FL-21)
Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
Pete Visclosky (IN-01)
Steny Hoyer (MD-05)
Richard Neal (MA-01)
Sandy Levin (MI-09)
John Dingell (MI-12)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Bennie Thompson (MS-02)
Frank Pallone (NJ-06)
Carolyn Maloney (NY-12)
Eliot Engel (NY-16)
Marcy Kaptur (OH-09)
Mike Doyle (PA-14)
Jim Clyburn (SC-06)
Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18)
Gene Green (TX-29)
Lloyd Doggett (TX-35)
Bobby Scott (VA-03)
Nick Rahall (WV-03)

25 House Democrats who voted NO:

Ed Pastor (AZ-07)
George Miller (CA-11)
Nancy Pelosi (CA-12)
Anna Eshoo (CA-18)
Zoe Lofgren (CA-19)
Sam Farr (CA-20)
Henry Waxman (CA-33)
Xavier Becerra (CA-34)
Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40)
Maxine Waters (CA-43)
Rosa DeLauro (CT-03)
John Lewis (GA-05)
Bobby Rush (IL-01)
Luis Gutierrez (IL-04)
John Conyers (MI-13)
Nydia Velazquez (NY-07)
Jerry Nadler (NY-10)
Charlie Rangel (NY-13)
Jose Serrano (NY-15)
Nita Lowey (NY-17)
Pete DeFazio (OR-04)
Chaka Fattah (PA-02)
Eddie Johnson (TX-30)
Jim Moran (VA-08)
Jim McDermott (WA-07)

Some former representatives have moved on to other careers.

There are three Republican governors who voted YES when in the House:

Nathan Deal (GA)
Sam Brownback (KS)
John Kasich (OH)

And there is one Democratic governor who voted NO when in the House: Neal Abercrombie (HI).

There are 14 senators who voted YES when in the House (8 R, 6 D):

Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
Mike Crapo (R-ID)
Dick Durbin (D-IL)
Pat Roberts (R-KS)
Ben Cardin (D-MD)
Roger Wicker (R-MS)
Bob Menendez (D-NJ)
Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
Richard Burr (R-NC)
Rob Portman (R-OH)
Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Tom Coburn (R-OK)
Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Tim Johnson (D-SD)

And 3 Senators who voted NO when n the House (2 D, 1 I):

Ed Markey (D-MA)
Jack Reed (D-RI)
Bernie Sanders (I-VT)